Baywhale,

I commend you for your good work in recruiting new members. Crunchers are special just because they crunch but those who crunch and take the time to recruit are extra special.

However, there is something that just isn't adding up for me. You seem to be saying you have prospects who are able to negotiate their way around your forum but they do not have the ability to negotiate their way around the WCG forums. Odd.

One of the facts of life on the net is that to participate in the community you need to get involved in various forums if not as an active poster then at least as a reader. If you hold your breath waiting for somebody to feed it to you on a spoon then you'll die either of starvation or lack of oxygen.

There are prerequisites for any activity in life. I submit to you that one of the prerequisites for being a cruncher is having the ability and the time to download the software and keep it running (which is not hard) or, failing that, being able to come to these forums or read an FAQ or contact the WCG support team directly. If that's not good enough for your prospects then I further submit to you that they just don't have the prerequisite skills and/or attitude at this time. I am certain that if they work at it they can develop those skills and attitudes. I am also certain that you will be uncommonly lucky to find an advisor here who will go to your forum and spoonfeed it to them. Nevertheless, good luck in all your endeavors.

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Thanks, Dagorath and Retsof. I think I can deal with all those points.

The photography forum is simple, there are no features for people to 'negotiate' their way around. All the forum normally consists of is exchanging comments on each other's pictures (it's not a place for technical discussions or issues). So it's basically just an opportunity for human beings to interact socially. It's even more simple for the people using it because for most of them it's part of their daily life, like a conversation about the weather over the garden fence. No doubt the WCG forum serves social needs also but for people discussing different and more specialised interests.

There was a day when the only reason people owned a computer was because they were fascinated by computing; that concept is a 20th century relic. To most people a computer is a tool; they're no more interested in discussing how it works than their washing machine. So for most people this forum is of no interest whatsoever and they'll only be coming here if they have to.

The only possible motivation to come here would be to help charity. The (main) problem WCG faces is the well-known one of getting people to contribute to charity – this process has to be as painless as possible or they simply won't join up. I am suggesting that the majority of computer users do not consider themselves knowledgeable enough to think joining WCG will be painless. They expect it to be a hassle. No doubt they would find their way through the system as it stands 'if their life depended upon it' but as it is just for charity it's easier to simply not join.

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The only prerequisite for being a cruncher is the ability to download the software onto your computer. There is no other. The ability to research information in a forum is as irrelevant as a knowledge of how the medical data is actually used. WCG doesn't need people with computer expertise, it needs people with computers – it so happens that the way information is currently being provided it is only going to be accessed by the people with expertise.

I would agree that it takes only a little expertise to negotiate your way around the help pages and this forum, but I suspect that the people attracted here have rather a lot of expertise. This forum is a great way to give information to a small section of the population – but WCG should not be marketed to only people interested in discussing computing problems, because the actual activity to be marketed is merely crunching numbers with a simple software download that anyone could use. This forum is not reaching anyone.

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The people in my group have the simple concerns that anyone could expect to have – how safe will this be for my computer, what impact will it have on performance and so on. They don't know anyone with any experience of this programme – I've only been a member of WCG for a few weeks; in fact one person is currently contacting some friends using the SETI software to get their opinion on whether that is safe.

It's clear that what's needed in my group is a reassuring 'presence'. People aren't going to contact the Support team to ask 'Is it safe?'; they simply won't bother to join – and if they did contact the Support team with such questions it would just clog up the system.

In case it's not clear, the group I've set up exists solely for people interested in WCG. People have joined this group on the basis of the information I've given them but I need to ask for the help of an 'adviser' to answer any doubts that I can't quell.

I would like to add that it is a small test group – I've only invited a select few. It was clear from the start that people really like the concept so when I open invitations to the photography forum at large the group will grow considerably, even without the help of an adviser. But until someone is available to come and offer reassurance the ratio between the photography group and the WCG team will not rise.

After millions of workunits being sent on secure sockets with encrypted text, NO viruses have ever been encountered on either here or the similar grid.org systems in over six years of intense effort. Your computers are much more unsafe by doing ANYTHING else. For that and other reasons, some even have dedicated crunchers that do nothing but run the grid. It's all of that other computing that is unsafe, not the background crunching.

You could always merge with an existing team, if you don't feel you have the resources alone. You're always welcome at User Friendly!

Baywhale, I had a look at your forum, and to be frank you're doing just fine by yourself.